Except for the scruffiness of Henry’s beard, the energetic match between New York and Los Angeles could have stood as a sterling example of the entertainment value and growing quality of Major League Soccer.
The problem was, however, that the same day the league actually suffered yet another setback in the campaign to showcase a good product.
That’s because Real Salt Lake’s talented midfielder, Javier Morales, suffered a broken leg from a tackle by Chivas USA’s Marcos Mondaini.
Morales hasn’t ever played in Europe, let alone for the likes of Arsenal and Barcelona, but Real Salt Lake fans could probably not care less about that. He’s the creative force in Salt Lake’s midfield, the wizard of the squad that made the CONCACAF Champions League final.
Sadly, Morales was only the latest of an alarming number of top-tier MLS players to suffer debilitating injuries this past season.
Last season’s MVP, David Ferreira, is out for months with broken bones suffered on a play on which no foul was called. It’s not only FC Dallas that is left bereft, but also all the fans of speedy dribbling, tricky plays and insightful passes.
Ferreira is the type of midfielder that defenses dread facing. He finds the little pockets of space in front of the back line and from there is lethal both running at defenders and picking out passes, allowing Dallas to attack from a number of different angles because of his ability to spread the ball around and forces the opposition to be on its toes throughout any match.
Credentials from abroad didn’t matter when Ferreira led FC Dallas last year past the Los Angeles Galaxy into the MLS final.
Talk is cheap, and the past is history.
Sure, it’s nice that MLS is attracting players from abroad like Rafa Marquez. It could be that Guti or Didier Drogba arrive next.
But trust me on one thing. Seattle is mourning Steve Zakuani’s injury-enforced absence due to yet another broken leg far more than it ever did the departure of the well-known Freddie Ljungberg.
Not very many mourned the exits of Claudio Reyna, Lothar Matthaus, or Denilson out of MLS, either. They may have had European careers and World Cup trophies, but they simply didn’t perform well for their respective clubs in the league.
No one should be fooled by the bright lights and big names of New York versus Los Angeles putting together an exciting encounter.
MLS as a whole lacks depth. It needs every good player it has to stay healthy, and the fact that so many of its best have at late been cut down while performing for their teams is cause for serious concern.
That the fallen players were good players didn’t need to be proven anywhere else, because those players proved it where it mattered.
MLS may want to show that it’s a tough league, and indeed, it probably wins the award for broken legs this past month.
It would be better, though, if MLS was known for skillful play. Yet that’s never going to happen if the players capable of such skill keep going down.
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MLS is poorer for the loss of the players who aren’t as well known